1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of flocking and in particular to an improved garment holding turret system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the art of flocking, it is known to provide an adhesive coating of a predetermined design to a substrate such as a garment, textile, card, etc. such as by screen printing, to cover the adhesive with flock, and then to heat the substrate to cure the adhesive. The flock, of course will adhere only to the adhesive coated portion of the substrate and after all excess flock is removed and the adhesive cured, the desired design on the garment will be "flocked" or fuzzy in both appearance and texture. The term "flock" as known in the prior art refers usually to a very short, natural or synthetic fiber such as may be used in coating greeting cards, garments or the like, such as fibers of rayon, nylon, polyester and pulp. It is known to apply flocking material to an adhesive coated surface in a variety of ways including manually depositing fibers over the entire surface and shaking off the excess, and more recently by the use of electrostatic devices which provides the advantage that the fibers are driven into the surface substantially on end with each fiber standing up. This gives a deeper penetration into the adhesive, and a more textured and more uniform coating. It is well-known in the prior art to apply flocking to garments such as T-shirts, sweat shirts and the like, however, the overall operation requires a large amount of operator time and hand work. In the prior art, the holding device for retaining the garment often needs to be put up and down by the operator, which results in fumbling in reaching for and lowering the holding device while trying, at the same time, to tuck the garment into the holding device, and then separately raising the holding device back into the retaining position. Another problem is that it is often necessary or desirable to rotate the turret to predetermine a masking area or a printing area or to make other adjustments. However, in the prior art, when the turret is rotated, the high voltage is turned on or activated raising flock from the tray to the platen at a time other than a desired flocking cycle.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or minimize some of the above-mentioned problems in the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a holding device allowing the operator to slide the fingers and garment between the holding device and the platen and providing positive holding for the garment without the operator needing to separately reach and lower the holding device and then raise the holding device into the retaining position.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved garment holding turret system which present no supports or assembly at the chest or stomach of the operator to hinder the operator's motions in removing and placing garments on the platen or in the screen printing operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved garment holding turret system in which the turret can be rotated in one direction without turning on the high voltage, for setting up the machine and making various adjustments, and in the other direction for initiating the flocking cycle.